Tea Party
by StandardToast
Summary: I'm standing on the moon, with nothing left to do, with a lonely view of heaven, but I'd rather be with you” AU Sasusaku, two-shot.
1. Tea

_Tea Party. Part 1_

_-_

_I watched them link their hands and dance._

_And my shattered heart imploded._

I can't recall exactly when this story began, but I do seem to recall a mention of watered-down tea, childish promises and skinned knees. The fact of the matter is, this story has always existed, and I doubt it will ever end since life happens and does not stop to wait for you. I guess you could say the premise of this story began while I was at the young age of six, alone, again, in my back yard, playing with my only friends: my raggedy, dirty, over-loved, stuffed animals. They always smiled and never spoke, good thing since everyone that spoke to me criticized and condemned. I was contently arranging a glorious tea-party to celebrate the nice summer day when I first met _him. Sasuke._

My fist glimpse of my Adonis was of him poking his spiky-haired head through the broken-down fence that separated our two houses. I thought it was an incredibly odd thing to be doing, since the fence was liable to collapse at any given moment, and also I could hear other children playing out on the street.

_Why wasn't this boy out there with them….?_

I decided to ignore him, and prayed that he would leave me alone after he had gotten a good look at the freak that was me. I nervously slid my way between his line of sight and my over-stuffed friends, hoping he wouldn't inflict mass carnage and slaughter on them. I gulped nervously as I still felt his presence behind me. My breath began to quicken and I felt the icky sense of perspiration beginning to form.

_Why wasn't he leaving?!_

Crack. My eyes widened, my breathing stopped and I swear to god so did my heart. His soft footsteps rang like gunshots through my hyper-alert body and I shuddered in anticipation for the inevitable onslaught of verbal torture that I had endured so many times before. The thought that this strange little boy would be different did not even cross my mind. I closed my eyes and prepared myself.

"What 'cha doin'..?"

My eyes almost bugged out of my head from the shock. The little dark-haired boy's face was right in front of mine when my eyes flew open. I stumbled backwards in shock and fell directly onto my butt. A snicker escaped his lips and his mouth turned itself into a pleasant smile.

"You know, if you sit on the ground you're gonna get your dress dirty."

I gasped as he held out his small little hand towards me. Gingerly, I grasped his hand and he gently pulled my up to my feet.

"So, what's your name? I'm Sasuke!" the boy chirped at me. I was still in shock that someone was being nice to me that my reply came out kind of garbled.

"S-s-sak- ura"

"Nice you meet you S-s-sak-ura." I watched the mystery boy giggled to himself, as if divulging in a secret joke to himself. My eyebrows creased together in suspicion. I managed to splutter out a logical sentence.

"Um… what are you doing in my backyard?"

The boy's eyes widened for a fraction of a second and he tilted his head, smiling all the while.

"To see you of course! I didn't really like the other kids, and you looked like you were having fun-". He glanced around me to look at my stuffed friends' tea party.

"-and I've always liked tea!" he said while flitting his eyes back to mine. I felt the blush creeping across my face as his dark eyes looked into mine. I almost let out another gasp as he sat himself down on an empty chair.

"So what kind of tea were you guys havin'?" he said, while glancing back up at me. I stared at my feet, too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. This was the first time I had had a real person to share my tea with and not a fluffy animal. I slowly turned my gaze up to the dark-haired boy sitting at the tiny table. I took a slow breath in and struggled to get my sentence out.

"Um...Well, we were having green tea, but my…mom watered it down, so you probably won't want any…" My eyes widened perceptibly as his smile grew even wider (if that was at all possible).

"That's ok, I'm just glad I can share it with a friend!!"

My face flushed an even darker shade of crimson. He gestured me to sit down and I made my way to my chair. We sat there for what seemed like hours, talking about the neighbourhood, other kids, tea and my…issues with the other children. I remember his frown when I told him of the intense bullying I had gone through when my parents had signed me up for school. His eyes seemed to darken and his face wrinkled up into a looked of disgust. At first I panicked, thinking he didn't like me anymore, after I had told him, but he quieted my fears.

"Well, those stupid kids don't know what they're missing out on. And the teas good too!"

I smiled at him and he smiled back, both enjoying the moment of friendship.

"Well" he proclaimed, puffing out his small chest, "if anyone dares bully you while I'm around, I'm gonna give them one or two things to think about!!!" I giggled at his fierce face and he deflated, hearing my giggle.

"I'm serious, you know!!!"

I smiled at him, thanking him for his kindness. Soon we heard his mother calling him from his house and he sat up at the sound of his name. He got up to leave, but he turned around and gave me one final smile.

"I mean what I said, friends forever?"

I glanced at his outstretched pinkie finger and gently placed my finger in his. We both smiled at each other, and then he was gone, disappearing through the fence. I listened to his mother beginning a rant about how worried she was about him and I smiled to myself.

_Maybe life isn't that bad after all!_

For years after that, he kept his promise, fighting of my many bullies and ensuring I always made it home safe. Every snickering comment would be met with an equally degrading retort and soon the bullies learnt to stay away from me. He would sometimes sneak over to my house after his parents had had a particular bad fight and we would lie on my roof, gazing at the stars, wondering what was really out there and if there was a place for us. I don't think either of us forgot those years, the innocent, hazy days of childhood and childish friendship.

But as they say, all good things come to an end.

The day he told me he was moving was the day my heart broke. We were both twelve, on the fringes of adolescence and near the time when we started realizing that I was a girl and he was a boy. He said something about his parents needing time apart, I was still recovering from the shock, and all I saw was his lips moving. He told me it would only be temporary and he would be back soon to take care of me. I smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. As I lowered myself from my toes, I saw his face flush in embarrassment. He stood there awkwardly for a moment before speaking

"I guess this means goodbye?"

"Never say goodbye, because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting. Think of it as…being temporarily incapable of being a phsyical presence in my life."

He smiled

"Thank you, Sakura"

He turned, making his way back through the fence, and I watched with tears streaming down my face, realizing that I may never see him again.

I never forgot.

The next few year of my life went by slowly, waiting for his return. I made a new friend in his place, Ino. She was everything I desired to be and could never be. She was as good as a friend as one could hope for, fiercely loyal, extroverted and kind. I often wondered how I deserved such a good friend, as she tolerated my painful shyness and introversion. We spent many nights giggling to ourselves, chowing down on various goodies, gossiping and talking about cute boys. As we grew older, it became painfully obvious how different we were. She was beautiful, smart and a natural people person. Although I wasn't ugly, I was relatively plain, except for my cursed hair. It wasn't like I was stupid either, achieving top marks in all my subjects. But my social skills, well, they weren't in the gutter, they had trickled down to the sewer. At the many parties she would drag me too, she would usually end up completely smashed and sucking face with some random she had just met. I would sigh, collect our things and drag her drunk-ass back home where she would pass out.

She told me it never occurred to her I was cramping her style, in fact whenever I mentioned it, she would smile at me, pat me on the head and say something witty like,

"Friends don't let friends become the crazy cat lady!"

She tried to teach me that I was unique, and not a freak like many of the girls at our school had proclaimed. She told me to take pride in my looks, my _cotton-candy_ coloured hair and my_ emerald_ eyes, since there was quite probably no one else on the planet with those features. I would always blush when she complimented me, since no one else bothered to. I truly believed that there was nothing that could separate our friendship and she would never leave me like Sasuke had. Memories of him and me began to fade in the wake of the new ones me and Ino were making together.

But as the sage Charlie brown once wisely stated, "I think I'm afarid to be happy because whenever I get too happy, something bad happens".

Life was still going swimmingly and I was almost at the end of my awkward teenage years when all the chaos began.

I was just finishing my sihft at the local café when Ino's cheery face popped up on my phone and "Let's get this party started" began to shriek at me. I smiled and reached for my phone, knowing it was probably to drag me off to another party that a friend of a friends of a friend of hers was hosting.

How wrong I was.

Ino voice immediately cracked into my ear before I even had a chance to utter a greeting.

"Oh. My. God. I think I'm in love Sakura!!!!"

I sighed to myself, having heard this so many times before, only to hear how much she hated the poor boy a week later. I smirked and tried to keep my voice as nice as possible without letting any sarcasm slip through.

"Ah, and who is this darling that has captured your heart?"

"Well, I have to tell you the story first-" I grimaced in anticipation for the onslaught of fan-girlish giggles."-He's one of Naruto's friends, you know the crazy blond in my drama course, and this friend of his had just moved here. Anyway, Naruto invited me to hang out and asked if I would mind if he brought a friend. He said that his friend was a bit of a shut-in and he was trying to get him to stop moping around and meet some girls. Or course I was expecting some nerdy dork, but I accepted anyway and off we went to hang out. Naruto called his friend to meet us and when we all finally met up, I swear to god I went into cardiac arrest. His friend was gorgeous!!! Like all serious and hot and I think my jaw must have dropped to the floor when I saw him. He is seriously the embodiment of Adonis or something!!!"

I chuckled to myself at Ino display of intelligence, "You know who Adonis is, I'm impressed Ino!"

"Ha Ha Ha, Ms. Haruno. You're just jealous I'm out with such a hottie!!" her flat voice rang into my ears yet again.

"You got me. So does this sex god have a name? "

"Yes, and even his name is sexy! Guess!!!"

I sighed at her childish antics and began strolling towards the bus stop, hoping to catch the bus before it left.

"Ino, just tell me already!"

"AW!-", I could practically hear the pout. "Fine Ms. Party pooper, it's Sasuke!"

My heart stopped and I dropped my phone as if it had just shocked me.

Ino was currently out with _Sasuke. _

_SasUke. _

_SASUKE!!! _

I felt the pricks of tears making their way to my eyes. Why hadn't he tried to contact me!? Hastily, I picked up my phone and the people waiting at the bus stop gave me a concerned look, which only made me feel worse.

"Um, Ino, I gotta go, call me later! Ok? Bye!!"

"Wait, Sakura! Are you-"

I snapped my phone shut and desperately wanted to go home and curl up into a small ball of self-pity. Why hadn't he tried to call me, see me, anything!!! Was I not worth the effort, had he finally realized what a freak I was? Millions of questions swirled around inside my head and I began to feel numb. After I made my way to my house, which as usual, was empty, and I made my way to my room and slammed the door. I stumbled over to my secret stash of chocolate and immediately began ripping into the family-sized bars as I fell back onto my bed. Tears streamed unchecked down my face and I fell further into my state of hysteria and depression.

Sasuke had forgotten about me.

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Alright, so I probably should be updating Genesis, but this popped into my head instead

Stay tuned for the next chappie of this two-shot!

And since you're already at the bottom of the page, why not review! It would be greatly appreciated!!


	2. Party

The next day, Ino called me to ask if everything was alright and to yabber on about her "amazingly, fanfuckingtastic night". Every time she mentioned Sasuke, I felt my heart break into even smaller pieces. I realized that I had never mentioned him to her since I met her some years after he left. I guess it was too late now, since once Ino is smitten, there is no turning back. I half-heartedly listened to her squealing away and stuffed more chocolate into my mouth, agreeing with her whenever there was a pause in her rambling. She suddenly declared that she was going to make sure that they were an item.

If I could have felt any worse, I think this was the moment in which it happened.

I spent the next few days in a state of suspended animation, barely eating and barely there. I just couldn't get over the fact that he had forgotten about me and the fact that I was about to become a third wheel. At school, I just couldn't focus on what the teacher was saying. I would tune in for a fleeting moment and fall back into my own world. Ino asked me if anything was bothering me and if there was someone she needed to beat up.

I laughed in her face.

I watched as her face fell at my response and my guilt immediately began to eat away at my insides. I blurted out an apology and blamed it on stress. She seemed to accept my apology and vaulted herself into another rant about some random girl that I didn't care about. I feigned interest numbly walked beside her through the halls, not even acknowledging the looks people were giving me.

I really did not care anymore.

The next day, Ino came skipping up to me while I was exiting science and the smile on her face that couldn't have been anymore blinding.

"Guess who has a date with a Sex-God!!??"

Immediately I felt my insides flare with anger.

"_An undeserving bitch"_ almost slipped out of my lips. My eyes widened at the thought that had penetrated into my mind. I really couldn't believe I had just thought that, but I pushed it into the back of my mind and plastered my best smile on my face.

"An incredibly lucky Ino?" I said hesitantly.

Her smile blinded my eyes in response.

"I know, eh?! But it's not really a date, more like another hang out, but he'll be there!! You should come along to; maybe I could hook you and Naruto up, hmm? What do you think?"

I blanched at the thought of having to see Sasuke after all these years and I began frantically searching for a viable excuse.

"Um, I have a really big science paper due and I need to work on it…"

I watched as her infamous Jack Nicolson smile manifested itself across her face and I immediately knew I was doomed.

"Oh really Sakura, and since when has this…_paper_…existed, because I haven't heard anyone else talking _about it..."_

_Crap._

I sighed "You're getting better at reading my mind"

She smiled another dazzling smile" I know, and don't you love me for it! I'll be at your house for 6 to make battle plans. Ok? Ok." With that said she turned and skipped to her next class, leaving me with and awful sense of dread and a mad craving for chocolate.

Before I knew it, school had ended, I survived that bus ride home and I was sitting in my room glaring at the clock that was cheerfully displaying "5:59" in bright red numbers. I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed.

I hadn't changed a bit from when I was twelve. My hair had been cut short after and unfortunate incident with a group of particularly nasty people and I decided to keep it that way afterwards. I was still quite "fun-sized"; barely over 5'2 and I looked at my chest, which was barely there. I let out another sigh, Ino was going to knock 'em dead, but at least I was pitiful enough to maybe invoke some laughter from Sasuke and Naruto.

I heard Ino ringing the door bell with her itchy finger and I slowly made my way down the stairs and to the door.

"You know, you only need to ring on-"

"While there are hotties to seduce, there is no limit to the amount of times I can ring the fricking door bell, Ms. Sakura Haruno!!!"

Despite myself, I smiled at her antics.

She barged past me and made her way up the stairs to my bedroom while I trailed behind her, dreading the impeding "beauty" rant she always made sure to include every time we went out.

I heard her gasp as I entered the room and her scandalized voice rang into my ears. "Is that what you going to be wearing?!"

I glanced at my outfit. It wasn't that bad, comfy at best. I had my favourite tee shirt and jeans on, with my pink and black vans on my feet, I thought that maybe I would enjoy the evening more if I was comfy.

"I thought it looked fine…"

Her perfectly plucked eye brow raised as the sentence tumbled out from my lips. "Ok, we need to get you into something else; you need to knock him off his feet!"

I grimaced at what that sentence implied. Last time she said that, I ended up in booty shorts, heeled-boots and a crop top. And she claimed I looked hot.

"No Ino, we are not going down that road again, don't you remember that guy asked if I would take twenties!!!"

I heard her let out a strangled snicker and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"No Ino. No." I said in the flattest voice I could muster up.

She looked at me with a suspiciously evil look on her face.

"Well, at least let me do something with your hair…"

As we stood there, I prayed to whatever sentient being that was out there that perhaps I could get hit by a car, swallowed up by the ground or perhaps Ino would wipe that smirk off her face. But then again, any sentient beings that were out there seemed to be thoroughly enjoying putting me through my paces. I sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and Ino turned to look at me.

"They're late!!" her horrified voice filtered through my ears and I grimaced at the pitch.

I gave her a less then pleased look.

"Duly noted, captain obvious"

She glared at me. "Well, I'm sure they're just stuck in traffic or something. It gives us some time to review our battle plans!"

I strangled a sigh that was threatening to surface. She had reviewed this with me probably a thousand times in the span of time it took to get from my house to the movies, which was probably 15 minutes at the most. She wanted to get him alone and I needed to distract Naruto. Of course, I completely_ abhorred _the idea of her and Sasuke alone, knowing what Ino could do. I put on my best (fake) smile.

"I will sit between you and Naruto and Sasuke will sit beside you. After the movie, I'm supposed to go to the bathroom and drag Naruto with me. Meanwhile, you and Sasuke make your exit and I will make sure there is a lot of space between us. And yadda yadda yadda. Is that good enough, captain, my captain?" I shouted out in a military fashion.

"Beautiful, just beautiful my dearie! We are going to kick so much ass!" she gleefully squealed. I felt the dread in me subside a little. I realized that if Sasuke didn't remember, or want to see me, tough. Tonight was going to be more fun trying to find ways to distract Naruto, anyway.

At least that's what I told myself.

I was starting up on another militaristic rant about out master plan, when I heard _him_.

"Sakura…?"

I froze; my previous good mood was gone in an instant. I really, really, really did not want to turn around and face him. I saw Ino's eyes widen in surprise, putting two and two together. I really could not turn around, my body had solidified and my feet weren't responding to my brain, which was screaming at me to run. I slowly looked up to Ino and opened my mouth to speak, but it only came out as a strangled mumble.

"Ino, I can't do this, I'm so sorry."

My brain finally took control of my body and I sprung forwards and began to run. I knew Ino would never forgive me, and I knew I would never forgive myself for running, but it was all I could do. I couldn't turn around and smile at his face and pretend that everything was alright, because it wasn't. I felt tears pricking my eyes, threatening to ruin my make-up that Ino had laboured over. I didn't even have the courage to look at him.

_Probably still as gorgeous as ever…_

I suddenly heard him call out my name, and to my panic, it sounded relatively close by. I didn't risk turning to locate his position, so I pumped my legs faster, praying he would give up (it didn't take much before…). To my dismay I felt a hand clamp around my wrist and pull me to an abrupt halt. I stumbled, trying to regain my balance and struggled to get free of his grasp. He whirled me around and for the first time in 5 years in looked into his eyes.

I stopped breathing.

He was more than gorgeous, if that was even possible. His face had a sharper quality to it and his ebony hair was still cut in his infamous hairstyle. His eyes still held the controlled fury that they always had, but this time around, they had certain sadness behind them too. And then he spoke again.

"Sakura, don't you dare run away from me." His cold voice echoed through my ears, he had changed. I shivered at his tone and began to struggle out of his grasp.

"Let me go! Why do you even care!? You seemed to be fine without me, so let go!! You can _forget _about me again!! Seemed easy the first time around!!" I shrieked out at him. I saw that he winced at my last sentence, and the familiar feeling of guilt began to resurface. He released my wrist and gave me glare from his hardened eyes.

"If I had forgotten about you, you think I would have moved back here? You think I would have run after you? Well?"

I winced at his words and the fire that I had felt inside myself extinguished itself. I began to feel sick from my ignorance.

"I'm sorry, but it seems you're getting along fine without me…" I quietly mumbled out.

His glare softened slightly.

"How could I have forgotten someone like you Sakura? You were my first friend, and my first…well that doesn't matter. But I never forgot you."

I looked into to his eyes and they softened yet again. I felt my heart begin to speed up as he held my gaze. I saw a ghost of a smile flitting across his face.

"So why didn't you try to contact me?" I said softly

The corner of his lips lifted slightly. "I tried, but I lost all your information during the move. I figured we would meet again, and I guess I was right."

A smile made its way across my face and a wrapped my arms around him and held him tight.

"You know, you aren't allowed to leave ever again. I won't let you." I mumbled into his chest.

I felt him place his head on top of mine. "I don't plan on leaving you, and I never did." I smiled even wider and held him tighter, feeling him do the same.

"And how do think you'll manage that?" I asked tentively.

"There are few things I've had control over in my life. Take yourself for example: meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was choice, but falling head over heels for you, I had no control over"

I gasped and retracted from his embrace. I gazed up into his face, which had a lazy smirk hung across it.

"Seriously…?" I asked as his face inched closer to my blushing one.

"Seriously." He said as his lips closed over mine.

_HELLZ YES BITCHES!!!!_

**A/N**: I realize that this story is a minefield of plot holes, but I just felt a need to finish it.

If there are grammatical errors, I apologize, but I am too lazy to go back and read it carefully.


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